Family Matters More
by PatriciaRoseLovett
Summary: Putting It Together. Family matters more, doesn't it? Even if it takes your own daughter to realize it. Rating might change in later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

"Ma, why don't you two just move?"

"You know why we can't, Elizabeth."

"Your entire family doesn't live in New York, Ma. We all live south of here. Why don't you and Dad?"

"Honey, you know why we can't move."

"Why, because of his job? Because of money that you know neither of you need? Is that it?"

"Elizabeth, please try and –"

"Don't 'please try and understand' me, Ma. We're all Southerners. We moved here after we got through high school because of our parents, because of you two, and then we moved back because it was where we belonged. Now we want you back. Please?"

"Elizabeth Annabelle Caroline Williams, you know full well that we're too well to do to move."

"Does that matter more than your family, Ma? Does being so well-to-do in New York City while Dad has an affair with every woman he can get his hands on that's too naïve to realize what he is, and then you have an affair of your own when you find out … does it matter more than your own children, your own flesh and blood? Does it?"

"It does, but …"

"Then move back to the South. Dad's board can deal with the fact that he's gone. They'll understand. So will your friends. You can start over again with us. We all miss you. All of us, even if we won't admit it. Now, if you'll excuse me, Ma, they just called my flight. I'll call you when I get back to Atlanta. Mark's getting married next week."

She ended the call before the redhead could reply. Elizabeth hated yelling at her mom, but it had to be done. Yes, people were staring as she walked to the entrance ramp to the plane to get her ticket checked so she could get home. Her husband would be mad when he found out she'd yelled at her mom, much less come to New York to see them alone. He was waiting for her in Atlanta, though. She had to make the flight.


	2. Chapter 2

Ginger sighed, hanging up. She hated missing her son's wedding, but then again, how could she not? She wanted to see her son get married, but she couldn't. Sometimes she hated her husband. But she loved him. She couldn't leave him now, no matter how much it would be better for the kids.

"Charlie?" she called, standing after a moment.

"Yes, darling?"

"I'm going down to Atlanta. Mark's getting married next week. I want to be there for him."

"I would want to go too, but I can't. You know how the Board is."

"I'll go down alone then. Tonight, if necessary. Family matters more, even if that's what you're a part of that as much as the kids are."

"Ginger!" he whined, following her down the hallway to the bedroom. "You know I want to be there too, but I can't. We've got a project coming in and –"

"So work's more important than family?" she said, turning around to face him, stopping just outside their bedroom door. "You're board's more important than our son, the son we raised for the past twenty-three years, even when he was off at college up until last year. Is that is? Maybe Elizabeth was right, Charles. Maybe she was right that you have affairs with women behind my back, maybe she was right that I'm so involved with being well-to-do, and trying to prove that I'm just as good as the next woman, if not better because you married me, that I've lost all contact with my own children. I'm not their mom anymore. I'm just some woman who carried them and let them find out what they needed to know by themselves. I want that relationship back with my children, and if that calls for a divorce, so be it. I won't care. See how much you like it, Charlie."

She turned and went into the bedroom, trying to hold back tears until she had locked herself in and sunk against the door, crying into her arms as the emotional response to what had just occurred finally caught up with her.


	3. Chapter 3

Elizabeth stared out the window as she and her husband rode in silence to the hotel. He was mad, alright, and she was still upset from having yelled at her mom before the plane ride, but it had to be done, there had to be consequences to it. Even though she hated to, she had to get back on her husband's good side, on her _mother's_ good side before something come up and she wasn't forgiven. "Gordon, I'm sorry I didn't tell you that I was going up to see Mom and Dad. I would have, but I didn't want you to worry because of the kid. I know how much you hate me travelling, especially now that I'm pregnant, but I really had to go visit them. They needed to see me. I needed to see them."

"Did you talk to them?"

"About …?"

"About how they don't see any of the rest of us anymore?"

"Yeah, I did. And Ma's gonna see if she can come down for Mark's wedding. She wants to see her son get married."

"Good for her. She needs to be here. Mark's the only one of us lot who isn't married yet."

"Technically, you're not her kid. It's just the three of us, Mark, Scott and me. For the love of God, Gordon, try and remember that."

"You're pregnant, stop fighting."

"You would talk," she said, staring out the window again. "Forgive me, Gordon. It's just hormones."

"I forgive you. Your mom would probably agree with me."

"I can't believe that Mark's getting married. Can you?"

"I bet your mom can't either."

Elizabeth sighed. "It's just that … Scot got married two years ago when his girlfriend got pregnant. It's a good thing they were in love. Me and you got married in December and look, we're already pregnant. And Mark's getting married next week, for the first time, and we all want him to be happy, especially Mom and Dad."

"Is your dad coming down for the wedding?"

"Probably not. He's got the Board, and everything."

"Oh. Okay."

They fell back into a silence again as they approached the hotel. She wanted to be back home, in Virginia, not here in Atlanta. Her friends were there, her _life_ was there, not here. Well, her brother was here, and his wife, and the children they'd have, but the rest of her life wasn't here.

"I wanna go back too, sweetheart," Gordon said, as if reading her mind. "We'll be home soon, though. Just one more week with the kid out of Virginia."

Elizabeth nodded as the car turned into the hotel parking lot and pulled into a parking space.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: I know this one's short, but I can't think of much else to write for this one. Next chapter will be longer. I guess, hopefully.**

Three days until Mark's wedding. Elizabeth was sitting at the airport, waiting for her mother's flight to get in. The woman was glad that her own mother was coming in to see her son get married, even if she had to fly back home the next day. During their last phone call, Ginger had said that she was moving out, to a place that she'd just bought in Virginia. The woman was so grateful that she was finally getting out of the house and moving on with her life, even if Charlie wasn't. All she had to do was try and she could.

"Mom, you made it!" Elizabeth said, hugging the woman as soon as she saw her mother get to the bottom of the escalator in the airport. "Thank you so much!"

"You're sure that Gordon doesn't mind paying for my ticket to Virginia?"

"Mom, he won't mind, you know that. You can even ask him when we get to the hotel. Honest."

"You're a good kid, Elizabeth. You'll be great when you've got kids of your own."

'_Which won't be long now,_' Lizzie thought as the two walked back out to the rental car.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Dude, seriously? What is it with me and not having updated this in a month? I would have worked on it since last update on the 20th of Janury, but the two weeks after that were basically GONE because of snow and I can't get to my documents at home because my computer is completely retarted this school year (it let me last year), and the two weeks after that, my school laptop (where I have this updated version of the story) was with Fundi (school laptop repair guy) and I couldn't work on it and I just got it back yesterday and didn't finish writing it all yesterday, so I finished typing it today (even though there wasn't much to finish typing) and now I'm posting it. Now, I've gotta go work on The Green Kids, but that's on my personal computer, and I've got another three hours before I get home, so I can't work on that. So I guess I'll just start typing this new misc. movies story that I just started this morning while I listen to Avenue Q (Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) almost full-blast on my iPod so it'll drown out the band (I'm in study hall right now, and band's practicing). Hope you tell me what you think.**

"Thank you for all of this help with the wedding, Elizabeth. You're such a good friend to all of us."

"Alyson, it's nothing. You're family now, and our family has to do what we can to help each other. That's why we've been so helpful, my sister-in-law and I. We've been through it already, and to actually be a part of a wedding that isn't your own comes pretty damn close to being in your own wedding. Well, for me anyways, even though it's only been four months since my wedding."

"Ellie, you're rambling," Gordon said, putting his hand on her shoulder. "Please ignore my wife's rambling, Aly. She's pregnant, it's only natural."

Elizabeth smiled. "If you'll excuse me, I have to go find Scott. He said he wanted to dance before the night's over. No, I'm not delusional, Gordon. I'm pregnant. There's a difference."

Gordon laughed as she walked off in search of her eldest brother. "Please try to forgive her if she ever does that again. When you're pregnant – assuming that you and your husband both want children – you'll understand. Ellie's very understanding of her sisters-in-law being pregnant. Very accepting too, especially after the fiasco that resulted in Scott's first child."

"What happened?" Alyson said, pushing a stray strand of hair behind her ear as she accepted the wine glass from her husband. "You say it like it's a bad thing. Did they not want the child?"

"Did who not want the child?" Mark said, putting his arm around his wife's waist.

"Scott and Molly. No, they wanted the child, Alyson. Don't get me wrong. But Molly got pregnant with Junior before they were married. It was a freak accident. They were both drunk, and they lost it and Molly got pregnant. After they realized she was pregnant, he officially proposed, she said yes, and two months later they were married, much to Mom's disappointment. Molly's pregnant again. They think it's a girl, but they could always be wrong."

"Why was your mom disappointed about the two of them marrying so late in Molly's pregnancy?" Alyson asked, looking from her brother-in-law to her husband. "Was it because she was pregnant before the wedding?"

"Mom doesn't believe in premarital sex, drunk or sober. She would have been happier if they'd have not married and given the baby up after he was born. But she's come to accept Molly as well as the rest of us, even though Dad barely sees any of his kids or grandkids."

"How old is Junior?"

"He turned two the middle of August. Molly wants a girl this time, and frankly? So do we."

**A/N: What did you thiknk? Longest chapter to date, I think. I'm happy about that.**


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